Brasilia, October 05 (QNA) - Brazil's presidential election is headed for a runoff between Senator Flavio Bolsonaro and incumbent President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva after neither candidate secured the more than 50% of valid votes needed to win in Sunday's first round.
With 99.99% of ballots counted, Bolsonaro, the Liberal Party (PL) candidate, led with 47.03% of the valid vote, narrowly ahead of Lula, the Workers' Party (PT) candidate, who took 45.16%, according to official results from Brazil's Superior Electoral Court.
The two will face off on October 25 in a runoff that will determine who leads Latin America's largest economy for the next term.
Bolsonaro hailed his first-round lead, saying he was pleased to have finished ahead of Lula and expressing confidence in victory in the runoff.
Lula, meanwhile, described the first-round result as "unexpected" but vowed to return to the campaign with greater force, saying he was confident of winning the October 25 runoff. (QNA)